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March 9, 2004 - 8,783 subscribers
Today's sponsor: HIPAA Solutions Rx
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Is Your Organization Impacted By HIPAA? It’s probably not a "yes" or "no" answer, but more likely, "How much?" Learn from the experts -- Miller & Chevalier and HIPAA Solutions Rx. Visit the resource web site www.hipaaemployer.net to learn how companies who are fully insured, self insured, have flexible spending accounts, and even those who are administered by a third party, are all impacted by HIPAA in some way. The same resources used by SHRM & NAM members are now available to you. No matter what kind of plan you have or company size, HIPAA Employer can get you started on the road to compliance.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Medicare Nominee Backs Drug Imports
Excerpt: "President Bush's nominee to run Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Mark B. McClellan, said Monday that he would work with Congress on bipartisan legislation to assure the safety of pres.cription drugs imported from Canada." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Using New Medicare Billions, H.M.O.s Again Court Elderly
Excerpt: "No fewer than five H.M.O. companies are scrambling to sign up elderly members in [Florida's Hernando] county, and the pitches being delivered over lunch tables here herald a national surge in Medicare managed care prompted by the Bush administration's plan to pump $46 billion into these programs over the next 10 years." (New York Times; one-time registration required)
Text of California Court Opinion Applying Mandatory Contraception Coverage to Catholic Charities
Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. v. Superior Court of Sacramento County (Dep't of Managed Health Care). Excerpt by FindLaw.com: 'Even if the WCEA substantially burdens a religious belief or practice, it serves the compelling state interest of eliminating gender discrimination. Plaintiff does not qualify for the Act's 'religious employer' exemption because, as it concedes, its purpose is not the inculcation of religious values ..." (Supreme Court of California via FindLaw.com)
Written Testimony of GAO on Health Insurance Scams
22 pages. Written statement prepared for March 3, 2004 hearing, entitled 'Unauthorized or Bogus Entities Have Exploited Employers and Individuals Seeking Affordable Coverage'; statement of Kathryn G. Allen, Director, Health Care--Medicaid and Private Health Insurance Issues, and Robert J. Cramer, Managing Director, Office of Special Investigations (U.S. General Accounting Office)
Insurers Shouldn't Wait for Federal Government to Clarify Health Savings Accounts
Excerpt: "Insurers that move quickly to make qualified high-deductible health plans available will have the jump on those that wait for the U.S. Dept. of Treasury to clarify rules related to health savings accounts (HSAs), according to Don Sacco, chief strategy officer at MyHealthBank, a Portland, Ore.-based CDH software provider." (Inside Consumer-Directed Care via AISHealth.com)
Will Health Savings Accounts Have a Market?
Excerpt: "If the precedent set by the Archer MSA is any indication, some people are likely to use contributions to health savings accounts to pay for health care expenses while others will maximize their use as a tax-sheltered savings and investment vehicle." (Financial Advisor)
Why Health Savings Accounts May Flop
Excerpt: "Employers, desperate to rein in spiraling costs, would love to offer insurance with big deductibles. But unless they're willing to kick in generously to the HSAs, employees are likely to see this as simply a way to hack off front-end coverage." (Business Week)
Education and Management Keys to Curbing Respiratory Illness
Excerpt: "Respiratory illness affects millions every day, taking its toll in direct costs such as hospital visits and indirect costs such as productivity losses." (BenefitNews.com)
CIGNA Finds Education Key to Successful Generic Conversions
Excerpt: "CIGNA Pharmacy Management, the PBM unit of CIGNA HealthCare, says its generic promotion programs saved members an average of $14 for each converted 30-day pres.cription in 2003." (Drug Cost Management Report via AISHealth.com)
From Managed Care To Consumer Health Insurance: the Fall and Rise of Aetna
Excerpt: "This paper documents Aetna's fall as the nation's largest managed care plan and its subsequent reemergence as a smaller but more profitable multiproduct insurer. The paper emphasizes the transformation in corporate goals, product design, organizational structure, information technology, product mix, premiums, cash flow, net income, and share prices." (Health Affairs)
Law As An Agent of Health System Change
Excerpt: "Federal courts and state regulators have remade the rules of the medical marketplace, restricting the methods available to managed care organizations to control costs. Legal conflict, however, has had a larger effect through its influence on market actors' perceptions and expectations." (Health Affairs)
Are Market Forces Strong Enough To Deliver Efficient Health Care Systems? Confidence Is Waning
Excerpt: "In about 1,000 interviews during the latest round of site visits, [Community Tracking Study] investigators found deep skepticism about the ability of market-based reforms to produce urgently needed improvements in the efficiency and quality of the nation's health care system. As much as these predominantly private-sector leaders dread the prospect of deeper interventions by government, few of them seem to be able to imagine other alternatives." (Health Affairs)
Who Bears the Burden of Social Insurance?
Excerpt: "Using the society-managed health insurance data, which is cross-sectional time-series and covers 1,670 health insurance societies for seven years (FY1995-2001), we found for the first time in Japan that the majority of the employer's contribution to health insurance is shifting back onto the employees in the form of wage reduction." (National Bureau of Economic Research)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Text of DOL Request for Comments on Proposed Design Improvements to EFAST System (PDF)
Excerpt: "The approaching end of the current EFAST's scheduled life cycle creates an opportunity to reconceptualize and reengineer the system with an eye toward using Web-based technology to improve the process of collecting and disseminating information about employee benefit plans and their operations. This opportunity was not available when the existing system was built." (U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration)
Tax Expenditures and Employee Benefits: An Update from the FY 2005 Budget (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "The federal government supports the provision of employee benefits through preferential tax treatment in the Internal Revenue Code." (Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))
Domestic Partner Benefits: Facts and Background (PDF)
5 pages; updated March 2004. (Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI))
Senators Ready for Efforts to Curb Tax Cuts
Excerpt: "Top Senate Republicans are gearing up to head off Democratic efforts to curb President Bush's tax cuts while fighting back proposed reductions in his defense spending plans.... Democrats were preparing one amendment aimed at highlighting their election-year argument that the government should stop its traditional practice of using Social Security trust fund cash for other functions." (AP via Washington Post)
Newly Posted Events
Fundamentals of Qualified Plans Seminar
Nationwide on May 6, 2004
presented by SunGard Corbel
Newly Posted Press Releases
SunGard Corbel Releases New Communication Pamphlets
(SunGard Corbel)
412i Company to start Free Video Conferences with Advisors
(The 412(i) Company)
VPA Makes The Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Fastest Growing Private Companies” List
(VPA, INC.)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
401(k) Administrator
for ML Kerns & Associates, Inc., a division of American Benefit Resources, Inc.
in TX
Team Manager - Client Services
for BISYS Retirement Services
in PA
Specialist
for Towers Perrin
in PA
Consultant- Personalized Communication Services
for Towers Perrin
in PA
Benefits Counsel
for Sony Corporation of America
in NY
Administrator w/ 1 - 3 Years Experience
for Louis Kravitz & Associates, Inc.
in CA
Handy Links:
- View Today's Active Message Threads
- Search BenefitsLink
- Using the Web for Employee Benefits Research
- Employee Benefits Library
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